New Brunswick potato chip maker scaling up with help of feds, province
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Covered Bridge Potato Chips putting lengthy strike in the rearview, expanding East Coast plant
Waterville, N.B.—A kettle chip manufacturer based a few kilometres outside Hartland, New Brunswick has kicked off an expansion project that will allow it to slice through more East Coast dark russet potatoes.
The Covered Bridge Potato Chip Co. plans to add 9,000 sq. ft. of floor space at its plant, as well as buy new equipment using a combined federal and provincial government contribution of $867,000.
“This expansion is another step for us in our efforts to build a more efficient platform for the future growth of the company,” the company’s president, Ryan Albright, said in a statement. “The space will enable us to add more cooking capacity and a new product line in the near future.”
The two tiers of government announced the funding Jan. 25, about a year after the Canadian wing of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union called for a boycott on the chips as part of a worker strike at the plant.
The lengthy strike and boycott came to an end last May.
Covered Bridge said the expansion will improve plant efficiencies and increase its production capacity.
